ACADEMYTHE

Fish Finder

The Venue When you’re fishing early o n in the season proper it’s always a good idea to get as much information about the water as possible. Getting to know a water is a major b enefit. You’ll notice time and again that it’s usually just one or two anglers who catch the majority of the fish. These are

Bankside Vegetation From a tactical point of view this can help you get close to your quarry. It offers you cover close to the water’s edge and quite often, early in the year, trout can be found right in the margins. By keeping a low profile and keeping yourself behind the bankside cover you’ll often be able to lower your fly into the path of cruising trout.

These weeds, later on in the year, are great places for damsels to leave their watery homes and trout are well aware of this. Pay special attention to them.

Underwater Features Any kind of underwater feature tends to harbour aquatic food. They offer shelter and safety for these tiny creatures. However, if your local water produces some big brown trout every now and again, the chances are that they tend to hang around this feature. Sunken logs, tree roots and underwater boulders are perfect locations for big old brown trout to hang around.

When targeting any kind of underwater feature, make sure your leader is up to it. A hooked fish will head straight for any kind of safety, and that means the nearest feature.

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the men or women who know the water, know where the w eed beds are, the drop-offs and the fish-holding areas. Knowledge like this can pay off big time.

In the real world most of us c an’t fish a place all the time, or wouldn’t want to for that matter – it can get a bit samey. But watercraft and some knowledge of fish location can help you concentrate your e fforts on specific areas. At the same time, you will know that there are some parts of the venue you should avoid – fishless zones where you’ll k now there’s no point in even wetting a line.

It can be pretty easy to get an idea of what’s going on under the surface when you’re on clear-water v enues. You can see weed beds, shelves and other fishholding areas.

You’ll also see where fish patrol; they have particular p atrolling routes and if you can establish these routes you can pick off the trout if you get your tactics correct.

Points And Promontories If you are lucky enough to be first on the water you can get yourself positioned on a promontory, and then you’re onto a winner.

These headlands give you deeper water on either side of your fishing positions. They are also good places to target because trout have to pass them to get into bays and creeks.

Weed Weeded areas are a haven for all manner of aquatic beasties that trout feed on. All those damsels, shrimps, bloodworm and hoglice love weeded sections of the lake bed.

Sticklebacks and juvenile coarse fish tend to migrate to them too. It’s a rich feeding ground for all parties involved.

Shelves And Slopes It doesn’t matter what you fish for or how you go about catching them, underwater shelves and areas where the bottom drops away into deeper water are havens for all types of fish. They have the safety of deep water nearby and this seems to make them happy.

On the shallow side of the shelf, where the sun penetrates first and heats things up, life is more prolific and if there are things to eat then the trout won’t be far away.

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